What is trim? Kayak trim is all about having the boat in a neutral balanced, horizontal position in flat water when you’re paddling along. If the trim is out so that either your bow or stern is too low in the water then boat speed and handling can be affected. To be honest, unless you’re racing, we don’t need to get too hung up on getting the right trim, especially if you’re using a club boat which is used by lots of different people. However it’s good to avoid extremes as you might find boat handling and steering really are affected.

Trim is changed by moving your seat, and therefore your weight distribution, backwards or forwards in the boat. For us, the main thing is to make sure the seat isn’t all the way forward or all the way back in the boat, if possible. As a rough guide the seat should ideally be positioned so that your back is around 2-3cm forward of the rear cockpit coaming and certainly not resting against the cockpit. If it’s way out, and you do find your seat all the way forward or all the way back, it might be better to move the footrest, rather than the seat so that you get into the right seating position. If all else fails, try a different boat!